Just playing

Life continues to keep me out of my studio (except for when I'm packing it into boxes ready for my move).

But that doesn't mean there are no miniatures in it (my life, not the studio). Here's what I've been up to...

First up, I attended the opening of this year's ANCA Pin exhibition, Pin 8.

This annual exhibition is locked into my calendar as a great place to see (and sometimes buy) miniature art.

This year's budget allowed me to buy this piece by Jen Fullerton (Brown Paper Cowgirl on Instagram):

Then I returned to miniature club, after a break of around 15 years.

We made topiary to go in front of a group project of a house made of room boxes made by club members

 to be displayed at a local railway and model show.

 More recently, I went to the opening of an exhibition at M16 Artspace of work by Clare Martin (an artist I'm familiar with) and Mike O'Kane (a new-to me artist).

I loved Clare's work Dream Home:

 (perhaps because it was in 1/12th scale, and beautifully executed)

and was struck by Mike's works, which seamlessly photoshopped models into full-sized scenes.

Enough that I bought this work, White Fella, for my new home:

Containing my excitement

The IKEA As-is corner. It's one of my favourite places in the city (along with the Typo scratch-and-dent table and the Kaisercraft discount racks: I'm easily (and cheaply) pleased...).

Also: it's just the right distance from home to please the NRMA: who tell me that Miss Daisy needs to go on dates with me regularly to keep her battery from dying.

On a recent visit I spotted these:

miniature shipping containers! One with a light included!

I instantly forgot all of my unfinished projects, my lack of time, or the fact I'm packing to move: and bought them both.

I'd really like to get some door and window holes cut before I start playing. It's on the (very) long list.

But since this range was limited edition, I'm happy to have bought them now and have to wait to work on them...

The art of miniature

I've been fangirling over artist Lori Nix for a number of years (in fact I'm very tempted to say "since we exhibited together at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York", even though she was in the actual exhibition and I was in the online gallery add-on, Small Realities. So not really in the same league at all, even though I made it onto the Small Realities front page).

I bought the book that goes with the exhibition back in 2011 (the year the exhibition happened) but have been after a copy of Lori Nix's book The City ever since.

Alas it went out of print very quickly and the second-hand market soon had it into the hundreds of dollars (possibly due to a fairly constant flow of media attention), and thus well beyond my budget.

I'd pretty much resigned myself to never having a copy of the book, but still occasionally checked out Booko to see how stupidly expensive it was.

And then, one day in April this year, something amazing happened: I found a copy for under $100! And in Sydney, no less!

I snapped it up as an early birthday present, fully expecting to get the 'Oh sorry, it's not actually in stock' email, but instead getting the 'We just shipped it to you' email. I was gobsmacked at my luck.

(Of course, nothing birthday present-related will beat the buying of my first home, settlement of which just happened to land on the day before my birthday this year).

As part of the preparation for my shift, I realised there were some things in my life (and my home) that I could no longer justify.

Sadly, one of these was bette Noir, which had sat in my front hall for almost two and a half years before heading to its new home.

I was feeling bad about my lack of action during that time until I was reminded that it was destined for the tip before it came to me: so perhaps I was only ever supposed to be its caretaker, not its owner.

And when I discovered that its new owner (caretaker) was in the studio next to one of its creators, I was happy.

Miniatures at the museum

I visited The Parental Units over Easter, and we took the opportunity to check out Toi Art, the new art gallery at Te Papa.

As we entered the first room I spotted this in the corner of a large, blank wall and had to investigate further.

Inside the storefront was a piece of moon rock, a New Zealand flag and a sign explaining how a piece of moon rock came to be in New Zealand (if not inside a miniature storefront in an art gallery in New Zealand)...

 And to confuse matters further, across the gallery there was a technical drawing of the store front, by Christo.

There was a booklet explaining the artworks, but alas this wasn't allowed to leave the gallery (which I suppose made sense, but I was surprised that there weren't copies available for purchase at the gallery shop: I know I would have bought two...). And I've just discovered that there's also a mobile app that we could have accessed on our phones at the time (although perhaps it wasn't available in April?)

So it wasn't until I got home that I was able to research the artworks and discover that the model in the wall was The shortcut gallery by Michael Parekowhai, informed by Christo's Storefront series (created in the 1960s). And the Christo drawing was Pink Store Front (project). The whole thing is described nicely in Article magazine.

Tiny treasures at the tip (shop)

I've previously sung the praises of Canberra's city-based tip shops, especially for discovering unexpected miniature finds.

What I neglected to mention is that there are two more tip shops in Canberra: one at each of the resource management centres (the new term for tip, dump, or whatever you call it where you live). And those ones are massive.

Canberra is in the fortunate position to have a fairly high level of education (and pay) and also a rather transient population. Which means the resource management centres have a regular supply of items too good to end up in landfill (see example A (or is that A sharp?)).

I don't visit the tip shops very often, as I have that whole 'trying to save money/ have enough stuff already' thing going on. But the day after this year's Canberra Miniature Fair and Dollshouse show I popped in because I needed bigger plants pots for my work plants (even though I'd replanted them already at the beginning of the year), and figured it was the right place to start.

While searching for the gardening department, I stumbled across an entire end of the shed that looked like a craft shop: except it was at the tip. Wandering inside, I spotted a dolls' house on display:

It wasn't until I got closer that I was able to read the sign on the top of it:

and got very excited.

Because what they've done is taken a fairly standard kid's dolls' house and used it as the centre of an area dedicated to showing how everyday discarded items can be used to make minis, and offering a selection of items that you might want to use:

An example: 

I eventually found my plant pots (50 cents each), but also came home with these:

(which were $5 total).

Little by little

I feel like I've opened a Pandora's box of photos and stories that I meant to blog, but...

As the panic started to rise around the fact I was blogging X, which happened after Y, I stopped, took a deep breath and decided I'd blog things as they came to the top of the list, whether or not they made chronological sense (to me, at least).

First up, I'd like to dedicate a whole blog post to the pictures I took of Div William's 1/48 scale model of Rose Seidler house:

I left the edge of the lazy susan it sat on in the image below, so you can see just how small and perfectly-formed the model is...

or, if you prefer, here's my hand for scale:

Once again, she's got the details just right.

(Although it seems I neglected to take a photo of the mural on the patio wall).

Popping in to collect my Bad Blogger award...

It's over half way through 2018, and I've blogged a total of five times. And I don't even remember the last time I made a scene...

Life's got in the way (thankfully, in a good way). Since the beginning of this year, I've

• changed jobs (within the same, awesome, team I've been in since the beginning of 2016, but in an expanded role. But I've still had to getting to grips with expanded duties)
• accidentally bought my first home (two years earlier than planned).

I'm excited about my new home (I think), but I've been dealing with the fact that it's tenanted until the end of 2018: and there's been some issues with the notice they've been given (now all sorted, thankfully). But that meant that for a few months I was living in a situation where I was packing in case they gave a couple of weeks' notice to move (not fun when you're packing a place you've lived in for almost 20 years...).

I realise that during this time I completely forgot to blog my trip to this year's Sydney Miniatures & Dollhouse Fair (although I did post in Instagram). So finally (and belatedly), here's what caught my eye...

This chap was on Kim Murdoch's stall and I thought encapsulated our feelings just before the door to the show opened (I was fortunate enough to gain early access this year, even without having a stall or an official position on The tiny Times).

A peek into a secret garden made by members of the Miniature Makers and Collectors club.

Long-time readers may remember Div Williams made and displayed a 3/4" scale model of Rose Seidler House back in 2008/ 2009. This year at the show she displayed another model of it: this one in quarter-inch scale:

There were a few gardens in the Miniature Makers and Collectors club display that caught the attention of my camera. This Japanese one:

this one, which felt to me like it was in Bali:

and this poor chap:

Lidi Stroud was displaying Willunga Cottage, based on a real-life cottage in South Australia (I believe she's planning a class on how to build one...),

She was also displaying her completed Venetian building: which I thought I'd blogged as a work in progress previously, but can't find: so suspect it was in The tiny Times instead...

(I have photos of the interior but for the sake of actually getting a post published, I'll find and publish them later).

And then there's her other build, Flourish & Blotts:

I don't know who made this workshop scene, which I had to take a photo of because I'm a sucker for well-used workspaces.

Another Kim Murdoch doll, in a build by Cassandra Stevens. Another one I know I photographed previously, but obviously for The tiny Times, not here...

And this chap on the roof felt just like I think most of us felt by the end of the day!

So,what came home with me?

First up, I was delighted that Minis by Twinmum had remembered a conversation we'd had at the 2016 show, where I'd said one of my holy grails still unrealised in miniature was a Philippe Starck Bubu stool, which perhaps her 3D printer could magic up for me

She gave it* to me for free, because she said she wasn't able to get a 'decent print'. I didn't really care as it was at least the right scale.

(*Yes, there was more: keep reading to see just how generous she was to me, and how happy that made me feel).

Speaking of free, this chap was one of my first acquisitions, from a freebie box:I was delighted by my discovery and decided there and then that there was quite a story attached to the chap: I just had to find out what it was and build a scene around it.

Later in the weekend I weakened and bought this lass from the same stall: as I was sure that they belonged together (and for $2 for both, who was I to quibble?)

And here's the full recap of what I brought home with me. And which I am looking forward to playing with once life settles down...

1. The black and white edit
Including two Philippe Starck Prince Aha stools from Minis by Twinmum...

2. The yellow and orange collection
More Prince Aha stools (gifted) and retro kitchen cannisters (bought) from Minis by Twinmum. Our lass, a piece of modern art (which by now I can't remember where I got it but it was either cheap or free), a French feve and a bottle and glasses of red wine (because I always need glasses of wine!)

3. Got the blues
Art, Sebel chairs, and retro kitchen cannisters bought from from Minis by Twinmum.

4. Black and gold
Because you know how I like these colours combined...

5. Kits
Yes, I bought another tray kit, plus the latest from JWT Dollshouses and Miniatures. When I'll get to them, I don't know.

6. Treasures
I prevaricated about both of these for almost the whole weekend, but am glad I decided to buy them.

The box is by Alan Waters. The metronome was (I thought) Petite Princess but now I'm not so sure.

Nevertheless, I am in need of a metronome, so this will do.